Heaven by Mieko Kawakami, translated by Sam Bett and David Boyd (Picador) Heaven by Mieko Kawakami, translated by Sam Bett and David Boyd (Picador)

From the author of the bestselling book Breasts and Eggs comes Mieko Kawakami’s second novel to be translated into English. Heaven was originally published in Japanese in 2009 with the title of Hevun. The English version was translated by Sam Bett and David Boyd.

Heaven centers around two fourteen-year-old junior high school students. The time is 1991. The boy is nicknamed “Eyes” by his classmates as he has a lazy eye. He describes his condition as “what my right struggled to see was part of what my left eye saw. Because everything had its blurry double, nothing had any depth”. 

The girl, Kojima, also has a nickname. Her classmates call her “Hazmat”. Kojima was “short, with kind of dark skin. She never talked at school. Her shirt was always wrinkled, and her uniform looked old. The girls in her class picked on her for being poor and dirty. 

Both students are the victims of ijime or bullying. Japan’s Ministry of Education defines ijime as a “physical or psychological aggression on someone weaker, which is detrimental to them.” Ninomiya is the leader of the pack of bullies. He is one of the most popular students in the school. He is also one of the top students at the school. His right hand man is Momose. 

Kojima reaches out to Eyes by sending him notes. Eyes at first believe the notes were left by Ninomiya or one of his cohorts. Around the beginning of May, Eyes receives a note that says “I want to see you”. Eyes fears going to the spot as mentioned in the note but is afraid of not going even more. He has no doubt in his mind that if he shows up, Ninomiya and his pals will give him the beating of a lifetime. 

Imagine Eyes' surprise as there is no Ninomiya or any of his friends waiting for him. Instead, sitting there with her back to him was a girl in her school uniform. It was Kojima. She befriends Eyes because she thinks that they are of the same mind. She feels that being bullied makes them stronger as people. Kojima and Eyes become close, however their only common bond is that they let themselves be bullied and don’t do anything about it. 

In one of the worst bullying episodes Ninomiya and his friends stick a cut volleyball over Eyes’ head and start to play “human soccer”.  Eyes gets a total thrashing as he is continually kicked in the head. He is left beaten and bleeding in a deserted auditorium. After Ninomiya and his friends have their fun, they tell Eyes that he should clean up himself and leave the premises a half-hour later. Meanwhile, Kojima watches the entire incident but doesn’t report it. 

At the hospital, Eyes sees and confronts Momose about the bullying. Momose says that bullying Eyes has nothing to do with his lazy eye. In fact, if it wasn’t him, it would be someone else they would bully. He sums up his own philosophy by telling Eyes, “People do what they can get away with”. 

The book stays with you long after you have finished. It often makes you angry and also makes you feel helpless. The senseless violence bestowed on Eyes and Kojima is more than just a little disturbing. It borders on the edge of brutality. I believe Kawakami makes the ending a bit vague and leaves it up to the reader to imagine what the fate of Ninomiya, Momose, and Kojima is like.  

Ijime or bullying continues to be one of the major problems occurring in schools throughout Japan. It doesn’t seem to matter how many times a teenage suicide due to bullying is featured in the news for the education system to change. Teachers and schools continue to ignore the cries of students who are being bullied, often hiding and or changing the facts to protect the school’s reputation and to deny any responsibility for the act. Although I've never been bullied myself, I definitely want the schools, the teachers, and the Board of Education to do an even better job than they are doing now. ~Ernie Hoyt